Jeffrey Wright

THE new, bittersweet comedy by Jim Jarmusch -- "Broken Flowers" -- revolves around Don Johnston, an aging lothario played by Bill Murray, who visits four old girlfriends in an effort to discover which one wrote him a letter announcing that he is the father of a 19-year-old son. But it's actor Jeffrey Wright who manages to steal every scene he's in as Johnston's neighbor, Winston.

It's one thing to reinterpret the work of a music icon, but it's quite another to merely offer up even a "striking" imitation ["How 'Cadillac's' Art Imitates Life," by Robert Hilburn, Dec. 16]. Jeffrey Wright may be an excellent actor, but it is beyond presumptuous for the makers of "Cadillac Records" to substitute his vocals for those of blues maestro Muddy Waters (same for Beyonce and Etta James, et al). In doing so, these preening egomaniacs insult their audience and demonstrate contempt for the very blues and R&B pioneers this film purports to celebrate.

Jeffrey Wright credits one of his co-stars in Ang Lee's Civil War epic, "Ride With the Devil," with helping him gain insight into his character, Daniel Holt, a freed Southern slave fighting for the Confederacy--and it wasn't "Ride's" leads, Skeet Ulrich or Tobey Maguire. Instead, the help came from Bugs, Wright's horse in the film. "I think Holt related to his horse more deeply than the people around him," suggests Wright in a recent interview in Los Angeles.

"If Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, then Muddy Waters was the god," declares Jeffrey Wright, and he's got a case. After all, the legendary bluesman helped originate the music without which rock would never have been and is cited as a primary influence by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones. "So many musicians express their absolute adoration, love and respect for Muddy Waters," says Wright.

A Huntington Beach woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempting to kill her estranged husband outside his home, police said. Angela Wright, 33, remains at the Orange County Jail after she allegedly stabbed Jeffrey Wright, 38, in the chest, Police Lt. Joseph Garcia said. Bail was set at $250,000. About 12:25 a.m. Saturday, Garcia said, Angela Wright showed up at Jeffrey Wright's house in the 15800 block of Pasadena Avenue, Garcia said.

It's one thing to reinterpret the work of a music icon, but it's quite another to merely offer up even a "striking" imitation ["How 'Cadillac's' Art Imitates Life," by Robert Hilburn, Dec. 16]. Jeffrey Wright may be an excellent actor, but it is beyond presumptuous for the makers of "Cadillac Records" to substitute his vocals for those of blues maestro Muddy Waters (same for Beyonce and Etta James, et al). In doing so, these preening egomaniacs insult their audience and demonstrate contempt for the very blues and R&B pioneers this film purports to celebrate.

On the boards: Ben Stiller, the star of such films as "Meet the Fockers," "DodgeBall" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," and Jeffrey Wright, a Tony Award winner for "Angels in America," will appear in the world premiere of "This Is How It Goes," a play by Neil LaBute about an interracial love triangle. It begins performances March 8 at the Public Theater in New York. Renewed: After only four outings, NBC has given a 22-episode renewal order to midseason drama "Medium" for next season.

Richard Stayton's article on "Angels in America" took me back to the tremendous weekend in Boston when I was fortunate enough to see Parts I and II back to back. Seven glorious hours of the most thought-provoking theater. Period. As a Belizean American and the daughter of one of the first social workers in Los Angeles to comfort AIDS patients and their families in the late '70s when it was still known as Kaposi's Sarcoma, I was quite sad to see that in Stayton's article he neglected to mention the character Belize.

"If Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, then Muddy Waters was the god," declares Jeffrey Wright, and he's got a case. After all, the legendary bluesman helped originate the music without which rock would never have been and is cited as a primary influence by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones. "So many musicians express their absolute adoration, love and respect for Muddy Waters," says Wright.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - With his shaggy hair, bushy mustache and obstinate ways, Jeffrey Allen Wright was well known to sheriff's deputies in Santa Rosa County, Fla. Wright, 55, drove around with a phony license plate. When stopped, he refused to produce a driver's license. Once he threatened to sue a deputy who pulled him over. After he was fined for traffic offenses in September, Wright paid with counterfeit money orders. When deputies served warrants for felony counterfeiting March 8, Wright barricaded himself in his garage and declared that he would not be "a servant of the king.

THE new, bittersweet comedy by Jim Jarmusch -- "Broken Flowers" -- revolves around Don Johnston, an aging lothario played by Bill Murray, who visits four old girlfriends in an effort to discover which one wrote him a letter announcing that he is the father of a 19-year-old son. But it's actor Jeffrey Wright who manages to steal every scene he's in as Johnston's neighbor, Winston.

On the boards: Ben Stiller, the star of such films as "Meet the Fockers," "DodgeBall" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," and Jeffrey Wright, a Tony Award winner for "Angels in America," will appear in the world premiere of "This Is How It Goes," a play by Neil LaBute about an interracial love triangle. It begins performances March 8 at the Public Theater in New York. Renewed: After only four outings, NBC has given a 22-episode renewal order to midseason drama "Medium" for next season.

Richard Stayton's article on "Angels in America" took me back to the tremendous weekend in Boston when I was fortunate enough to see Parts I and II back to back. Seven glorious hours of the most thought-provoking theater. Period. As a Belizean American and the daughter of one of the first social workers in Los Angeles to comfort AIDS patients and their families in the late '70s when it was still known as Kaposi's Sarcoma, I was quite sad to see that in Stayton's article he neglected to mention the character Belize.

Jeffrey Wright credits one of his co-stars in Ang Lee's Civil War epic, "Ride With the Devil," with helping him gain insight into his character, Daniel Holt, a freed Southern slave fighting for the Confederacy--and it wasn't "Ride's" leads, Skeet Ulrich or Tobey Maguire. Instead, the help came from Bugs, Wright's horse in the film. "I think Holt related to his horse more deeply than the people around him," suggests Wright in a recent interview in Los Angeles.

A Huntington Beach woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempting to kill her estranged husband outside his home, police said. Angela Wright, 33, remains at the Orange County Jail after she allegedly stabbed Jeffrey Wright, 38, in the chest, Police Lt. Joseph Garcia said. Bail was set at $250,000. About 12:25 a.m. Saturday, Garcia said, Angela Wright showed up at Jeffrey Wright's house in the 15800 block of Pasadena Avenue, Garcia said.

Long before it opened, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" had racked up plaudits for its groundbreaking depiction of the inner life of a black, overweight, ghetto-dwelling teenage girl. But since its release, a story-outside-the-story has developed that's equally fresh and complicated: black people's reaction to the movie and what it means. FOR THE RECORD: 'Precious': An article last Sunday about reaction to the movie "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" referred to the comments of a blogger named Tiffany on the website Racialicious.

A federal judge has struck down a key provision of a new city program providing basic healthcare for uninsured residents. San Francisco was set to begin requiring employers with more than 20 workers to start subsidizing the health plan Jan. 2. But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Wright ruled Wednesday that the mandate would violate a 1974 federal law designed to prevent inconsistencies in the health coverage afforded employees who work for the same company but live in different jurisdictions.